Robotics, Virtual Reality and Games

Linking Avatar and Self

When does “identity play” cross the line and become identity deception?

Activity 1 – Linking Avatar and Self

Once this has done click here to check your answers. While doing this think about the following:

a) how each character might be similar to or different from its matching person;

b) the many possible reasons why each person chose the character that they chose

c) the possible benefits and harms of identity play online.

Define “identity play” – the practice of trying out and deploying different identities in different settings in order to experience and represent new ways of being in the world for both personal and intellectual development.

Comment on the following:

Describe at least 3 reasons that someone might want to present themselves differently online than they are offline.

Name for any one of the avatar-person examples, at least one possible benefit and at least one possible harm of that particular identity presentation.

In conclusion….

There is a lot of freedom online: often you get to decide how to present yourself to other people-what pictures to put up, what to write about yourself, what character to play as. For the many reasons that you have all pointed out, sometimes it is beneficial when your identity online is different-it may allow you to express different parts of yourself than you do offline; it may be fun or funny; and it may be more appropriate to the community that you are part of online. And sometimes identity play can be harmful-it may be misleading to others, and it may prevent you from forming closer relationships with people online. When deciding for yourself what to be online, I hope you can think back to examples we looked and make good choices.

57 Comments

a) how each character might be similar to or different from its matching person

Some avatars were very similar in appearance and personality to its matching person and some were very different in the fact that their avatar wasn’t personalised at all.

b) the many possible reasons why each person chose the character that they chose

Some Avatars were made in the way they perceive themselves or created around a fantasy idea of them selves.

c) the possible benefits and harms of identity play online.

The benefits of having a non personalised avatar online is that you are still keeping your identity secure the harms are when people start making up these extravagant avatars and then interact with others online they may perceive you as the opisite gender or a younger or much older version of yourself.

1- They are not proud of who they are.
2- They do not want anyone to be able to see what they look like and track their identity.
3- They want to show people what they look like on the inside and their personality rather than their physical appearance.

One benefit of an avatar is that people can’t judge you by your physical qualities but rather as what your using to represent themselves. But because of that people are able to judge your personality based on the avatar you choose.

Comment on the following:
Describe at least 3 reasons that someone might want to present themselves differently online than they are offline.
1. to protect their identity
2. to be or feel like someone they admire
3. or if the character looks like themselves to show others their appearence

Name for any one of the avatar-person examples, at least one possible benefit and at least one possible harm of that particular identity presentation. – not sure if i did this correctly was a little confused…
1) how each character might be similar to or different from its matching person;
A. gives the people viewing the profile a bit of information about the person and their appearance.
D. can tell people too much about yourself

3 reasons that someone might want to present themselves differently online than they are offline:
* They possibly want to keep their identity a secret and want to keep themselves safe from people in the world
* They possibly like the idea of being able to change their appearance and being able to play around with their features and characteristics without actually physically doing it.
* They don’t want people knowing what they actually look like due to the fact that people are very judgemental.

When they are online, someone may wish to present themselves differently because they don’t like who they are in real life, because they want to take advantage of impressionable others online or because they feel that online is a safer place than real life to be themselves.

A benefit of Jason Rowe’s techno-robot-soldier avatar may be that it makes him feel braver, or more hopeful about himself and his condition. A harm that may arise from this avatar is that he may have some false thoughts or ideas about himself that may not be possible or probable for him.

How do different forms of self-expression online affect others?
well they might not then realise your true self and just think of you as this completely different person regardless if you want them too or not.

What are the potential benefit and harms to others?
benefits of you being a different person online to others, is that they can kinda except you for who you are not how you look, harm to others is maybe trust if you build a trust on games etc, then not be who you say you are

When does “identity play” cross the line and become identity deception?
probably when you change your gender or age by quite a bit-and start lying.

how each character might be similar to or different from its matching person:
well in the long run the are similar to some extent- but they might exaggerate certain qualities, and avoid others

the many possible reasons why each person chose the character that they chose:
well to be some one else-i guess especially if they are insecure about something-on the intranet you can always be someone else-better or worse.

the possible benefits and harms of identity play online.
benefits are you can be someone else and meet new people who you might get judged by appearances and you can really be yourself because know one knows who you really are, and harms are maybe you might start doubting yourself – like wait why don’t i look like this, why don’t i have this many friends in the real world- or you might become immersed in this world and stop everything else that REALLY matters

Describe at least 3 reasons that someone might want to present themselves differently online than they are offline.
insecurities
express themselves
easier to do other thing like talking to people online than off.

Name for any one of the avatar-person examples, at least one possible benefit and at least one possible harm of that particular identity presentation.
5 – C
benefits the he could be more like a normal kid and know one knows his real life
harm that he might start doubting himself and kinda really wishing that he could be “normal” and not have to worry about his health

Ms Lupone – i wasn’t 100% sure which questions to do-my fault- but if i didn’t do the right ones it would be great if you could just email me them- thx -Scarlett Padden

Q1. Some reasons that may cause someone to present themselves differently online, rather than the way they are offline may be because they emotional insecurities, causing a misrepresentation of themselves. Making an avatar to represent themselves is a way of mending those insecurities.another reason why one would present themselves differently online could be to possibly ‘recreate’ themselves, in the sense of being able to look a certain way or to defy a certain reputation one may have offline. Another reason someone would choose to present themselves differently online could simply be to hide their identity.

Q2. A possible harm of representing oneself differently online than how they may be perceived offline, is the misjudgment and misleading of others. This may lead to the endangerment of others’ personal information falling into the wrong hands. A benefit of representing oneself differently online than offline, is to able to conceal your identity, making it safer for yourself to be online.

1. reason why people might present themselves differently online than offline is that they might not be comfortable with there appearance.
2. maybe just for entertainment and for a fun thing.
3. to hide there real appearance and replace it with what they want to look like for instance a gender change, some people might do it for personal benefits.

How do different forms of self-expression online affect others?
Different forms of self-expression could trick people into believing who they are communicating to is someone entirely different then their actual self.

What are the potential benefit and harms to others?
Avatars online can become anyone they want to be with the technology today, which can be both good and bad in different aspects. It allows people to express what or whom they want to be without the flaws they see in themselves, but can give others the idea they are someone that they are not.

When does “identity play” cross the line and become identity
deception?
Identity play becomes deception when people are pretending to be someone they are not. I do not think creating someone who may not look like you is identity deception unless using someone else’s information or lying to people about your personal information (name, gender etc.).

Different forms of Online self-expressions can affect other people in various ways. People who express their kinds of identities through blogs or social network profiles may give an inspiration to others who feel scared and unable to express themselves. On the other hand, some forms of online identity can be misleading, causing distrust in communities. The potential benefit of this is it is a way of being creative about yourself and a way, where you can describe yourself in a different way and be imaginative. The harmful thing about this is you don’t know other’s true identity and personality which can lead to problems because you could make one up.

Describe at least 3 reasons that someone might want to present themselves differently online than they are offline.

Online gives you more chances to be who you want, then offline face to face. Firstly, they might be afraid of there appearance and think is a good thing to hide behind a screen so no one can see who they really are. Secondly, you can never trust a person behind a screen because your don’t know who you could come across. They might be saying they are a 14 year old boy but you never know they might be a old lady. Never give away personal details because that could lead into a lot of trouble and different places. Thirdly, behind the screen it allows you express different parts of yourself than you do offline.

Name for any one of the avatar-person examples, at least one possible benefit and at least one possible harm of that particular identity presentation.

The picture of the asian boy, he changed his avatar to a girl, you can see how they really look in person to how they hide behind the screens to act like someone else. Some people in this world would actually believe that this boy is a girl but really when they meet up they will see the problem. When you are online always think twice no matter what you are doing.

Different forms of self-expression online affect others because they could get reasonably close to someone then see them for who they really are.

There are many potential benefits and harms to others including;
Benefits
People can get close to each other and build a great relationship
It is an opportunity to bond with old friends
It is an opportunity to reconnect with family or friends
Harms
People could get close to each other and could end badly
Identity play crosses the line when two people get too attached and one of them turns out to be pretending to be something their not

There are many reasons someone might want to look different on the internet, some include;
They might be ashamed of who they really are and think the of the internet as a way to disguise themselves.
Another reason is that they might be using the internet to get to know people they wouldn’t usually connect with in real life.
One of the last reasons is that they might be using this to get to people in a negative way.

1- to be safe.
2- create a different you.
3- hind your real identity.
benefit – it can be a safe way to be you online and it can hind who you really are.
harm – you are shown as a different person so people think that is you which in fact you are not.

Ok Chelsea you answered the key questions but did not read what you needed to comment on. Have another read on what you needed to do. i wanted to see examples discussed of beneficial and harmful avatrs.

Ok evie you have responded to key questions while commenting on what I asked you to do. Well done and no need to rewrte question make it your own voice. However, you were required to give examples using the avatrs explored in class.

3 reasons that someone might want to present themselves differently online than they are offline:
-They may want to keep their identity a secret and want to keep themselves safe from others
– They like the idea of being able to change their appearance and to be able to play around with their features and characteristics
-They don’t want people knowing what they actually look like

benefit – it can be a safe way to hide your real identity
harm – you are shown as a different person

Different forms of self expression online affects others as people may be going by a completely false identity. This causes them to take advantage of becoming anyone they want and even tricking others.

The potential benefits of self expression is that others can see what type of person they are, maybe creative, or adventurous. Although the harms may be that the user is exaggerating their qualities or going by a completely different identity. By creating themselves to have a different gender, personality and hobbies. Meaning they can be a harm to others as they aren’t who they really are.

Identity play crosses the line and becomes identity deception when people take it to their advantage and fool others into believing they’re something in which they are not.

Therefore people might want to represent themselves differently online for a confidence boost or to live differently online.

1.With an avatar, you can hide your identity
2. The way you show yourself online could be their perfect self, compared who they really are offline
3. To be safe online

The man in the yellow top whose avatar is of a female character
Possible benefit
The man can hide his identity online to be in another world away fro reality
Possible harm
Others may not know your real gender and could be convinced to believe that a man is a female by his avatar.

People may wish present themselves differently online because they lack confidence and may not like the way they look. They may change their profile picture to an avatar they create in the likeness of the way they wish they looked or an avatar they really like. By not having to expose their true self this may increase their confidence and make them feel good about themselves. There are many criminals who create an online identity to deceptively present themselves in ways such to steal money. They may pretends to be a bank representative to try and get your bank details or they may pretend to be contacting you about a prize you’ve won online and need your bank details. They may pretend to be poor and suffering and ask you to send them money. There are many peadophiles who pretend to be young children and go online to gain the confidence and friendship of other children. This is a well thought out way to be seen differently online to harm children.

a) how each character might be similar to or different from its matching person;
They might have made a character that has similar features with the person in real life, or features of what they want to have.
b) the many possible reasons why each person chose the character that they chose
They might all have might made characters that reflect what they want to be in the real world
c) the possible benefits and harms of identity play online.
The benefits would be that they could make online friends and have fun playing games in an online community.
The harms could be being tracked, or your personal identity being exposed to strangers

1. How do different forms of self-expression online affect others?
– Different forms of self-expression online affect others because others judge people on their avatars and it can misleading to other people.

2. What are the potential benefit and harms to others?
– Some potential benefits are that people can build good relationships, they can talk to old friends and they can talk with friends that are out of state.
– Some harms are that people could think your a different person to who you actually are.

3. When does “identity play” cross the line and become identity deception?
– Identity play crosses the line when the gender has been changed and your appearance is altered extremely.

1. By making an avatar that is different to you and what you look like , you are able to hide what you truly look like, making it whatever you want can satisfy your desire to look different.
2. Harms on the internet are things such as : cyber bullying, being stalked and other dangers.
3. Identity deception could come in when your avatar looks nothing even remotely like you, and lying to people who see you as your avatar.

How do different forms of self-expression online affect others? creating an avatar thats not the same as you helps people hide themselves and create an avatar that they desire or would want to look like

What are the potential benefit and harms to others? cyberbullying and you can pretend to people that you are someone that you are not.

When does “identity play” cross the line and become identity deception?
it crosses the line when people alter what they really look like

Describe at least 3 reasons that someone might want to present themselves differently online than they are offline.
1. because they might be insecure
2. Because they don’t want want people knowing what they look like.
3. gives them more confidence

Name for any one of the avatar-person examples, at least one possible benefit and at least one possible harm of that particular identity presentation.
Positive benefit: you can gain confidence
Negative: You can get teased for looking the way you do

Thanks Paige some different perspectives on issues related to online avatars thanks for that. You were also required to give evidence some onthe issues (pro and con) using the information and examples explored in class.

People like to present themselves differently online so they can feel confident in their environment, protect their true identity and conceal what they really look like. In the online world, your physical appearance is irrelevant, and your personality shines through what you post and display. You can benefit from humanoid avatars because you can change genders and display your true identity, but this can be a harm as well. You can be stereotyped by your avatar, and could possibly be mistaken for a different type of person.

Thanks for your response Georgia. You have identified 3 reasons why they would want to use avatrs online and identified appropriate benefits and concerns but you were going to link this to an actual example.

– The are several reasons why a person might wish to present themselves differently online to who they are offline including reasons that follow:
1) A likely reason could be that a person is insecure about their real identity or appearance and so they create a fantasy avatar of themselves, conveying some desires and ideals of how they wish they looked in the real world. For example, Lucas Shaw has created an avatar that can be viewed as his opposite, creating an avatar with a muscular body and sculptured face despite his own real appearance. This could be a way for Lucas to conceal his insecurities of his own physical appearance, by creating a fantasy avatar that is to his liking and shows he own desire of what he wishes he looked like in his real life. This could also help him to gain some confidence while online, however it is misleading to others online and deceive many other online personal who see Lucas’ avatar, and create a false assumption of how he looks due to the appearance of his avatar that barely shows any resemblance to his true identity.

2) Another reason people may present themselves differently online is because they want to express themselves in a way which they can not do in the real world. Some people create their avatars as a way to express who they believe they are, that they aren’t able to do in the real world for reasons such as religious beliefs, their gender and cultural stereotypes. For example, Choi Seang Rak created an avatar that was female, despite being male himself. This my be because he is unhappy with being a man in the real world, so he created a female avatar to portray him online to perhaps fulfil his fantasy to be a woman that cannot be fulfilled/experienced in the real world. This would allow Choi to have a part of his fantasy fulfilled in his life in this way, however this is extremely misleading and deceiving to other online people who will know assume that Choi is a female due to his female avatar or perhaps may mistaken him for someone else.

3) People also create avatars of themselves that look different to who they really are offline to conceal and protect their identity. By doing this, the person is able to operate a bit safer online by not exposing who they really are (thief real identity) to people online who can take advantage or threaten them. For example, Tommy D. Graves’ online avatar wears a mask and resembles nothing of who he is or how he looks offline. This helps to make him conscious an aware of himself and others while his online, and helps to shield and protect his identity while his online from potential threats or con artists that exist on the internet. People never really know who they’re communicating with online and if their avatar is really them or not, so this allows Tommy to somewhat protect himself while he is online, however he still needs to be cautious of scams while online because there are many con artist online who create false identities to take advantage of other online users, especially children. The secrecy of his avatar however, makes it difficult to have any idea of the person who controls it, so it makes it difficult to trust him while online.

– There are many different benefits and harms caused by particular identity presentations of different avatar-persons. The following examples show the different benefits and harms caused by two different identity presentations online:
1) Kimberly Rufer-Bach is an example of people who create their avatars that portray what they really look like in the real world. Despite small differences such as her location and body shape, Kimberly has created an avatar that is quite similar to who she is offline, dressing her avatar in similar clothes that she really wear, having her avatar with her hair down and also wearing sunglasses as she does in real life. A benefit of Kimberly portraying her avatar so similar to her real identity is that it shows that she is content with herself as it expresses her true identity, and allows other people online to know who she really is and not deceive others. It helps to create an honest avatar for other people online which can help make being online a bit safer for other people, and also shows her own self-confidence and pride. However, an obvious harm to presenting her online identity so similar to her real identity is that it makes her vulnerable to online attacks and decreases her level of safety while online because people know who she really is, and this can cause her to become victim to con artists or threats who take advantage of people online.

2) Jason Rowe is a strong example of people who create avatars as a way to give them their own confidence and present themselves in a way that they can’t do in the real world. Jason is disadvantaged in his real life, however his avatar is presented as a strong person who is fully operational of their body. Although it looks like their are no links between Jason and his avatar, he has designed his avatar as someone wearing a suit of armour which reflects his own armour (his mask) that he must wear in his real life. Also his avatar is presented to have fully operational and strong arms which he doesn’t have in his real life. This is showing his desire and fantasy to have something he doesn’t in the real world, this being normal hands and arms. A possible benefit of Jason’s avatar is that it allows him to display some of his true identity whilst being able to obtain and fulfil some of his own fantasy and desire and have a part of it in his life. (even if it may only be only) This may also help to bring some joy and hope into his life. However, a possible harm/detrimental effects that could come about from Jason and his avatar is that he could begin to become to reliant and engrossed in the life and capabilities of his online character that he begins to become depressed or sad about his own life when he’s online or he is also misleading and creating a somewhat false presentation of himself to other online people which’ll cause people to make false assumptions about him and also makes the internet a bit more dangerous for them because they don’t know who is really online with them.

Different forms of self-expression online affect others because they can play tricks with there minds that might make one person think that the person is a girl or boy or even get mixed up in there ages and say things that they wouldn’t of said to the other.
the harms to others would be that they say something that could offend the person but they don’t think it will offend them cause they think that this person is someone else when they are not the person who they think they are. Identity play becomes identity deception when the person changes there whole character and says that they are something else for example if i am a girl and i was talking to another girl online and we were getting very personal and i said i was a guy from Canada and kept going with the act and saying lies, that crosses the line because i am saying lies to someone and they are believing it and I’m hurting someone.when you catfish someone that crosses the line

Online people may chose to identify themselves differently as a form of keeping their identity hidden and protected. In instances such as these people may chose to conceal who they are and what they really look like for purposes in maybe trying to feel confident in the environments they are in or creating a new persona to who they wish to be in real life. Characters may be different to its matching person through the physical appearance. In some games you can have the choice of choosing the gender of your avatar. In some purposes keeping your gender hidden can be beneficial yet it can have negative outcomes.

In class some of the examples of the avatars that we looked at covered some of these points made above. A good example is Choi Seang Rak. This image was a man who created an avatar with a female gender, disguising his hidden identity of being a male. In the image created his avatar is beneficial in hiding his true identity however depending on what games his playing he may experience stereotypes for the gender of his avatar.

Though some people on social media portray their avatars as their self, many do the opposite. Confidence in one’s appearance is a main factor of people representing themselves differently online. Avatar appearances that are usually made reflects on the image that a person wishes to be portrayed as. This can arrange from body shape, size, skin tone, face and gender. A person could also be trying to protect their privacy by depicting themselves in a different way. Adding onto privacy, cyber-bullying is a major cause for some people to present themselves differently to how the look in real life. The victim is able to feel more confident because without any information, they are allowed to freely speak to the person on the other side of the device without them quickly judging.

A benefit for people who create avatar images is that people can create whomever they want to be portrayed as fixing their flaws to perfection. However, this can also be a harm because when people do see themselves through a mirror, they might be quick to make comments about how they “wish to be like that” or “have to be like that”, leading to self doubt.